Many existing industrial sites were constructed with equipment having no capability of being automatically monitored or controlled. As a result, manpower may be required to periodically survey the equipment of the site. This may be time consuming and/or costly.
Still other sites may operate with outdated analog monitoring and control systems requiring wiring of control signals throughout the site (e.g., 0-5 volt, 0-10 volts, 0-15 volt, 4-20 mA DC type control systems). Such approaches may require constant maintenance of wiring and wiring conduits which may also be time consuming and costly.
Automated pieces of equipment are known. For example, pressure gauges have been manufactured with a built-in transmitting unit. However, such equipment may be very costly. Further, retrofitting an existing site with such equipment may be an invasive process. In the event the equipment to be replaced is being utilized in an active process, the process may have to be shut down entirely as the equipment is replaced with one having a built-in transmitting unit. Further, once such a replacement has taken place, the entire processing system may have to be retested (e.g., leak tested) to ensure it is properly operating. This makes automation of a site, expensive, time consuming and invasive.